John’s Revelation informs us that people will still worship images and figurines:

“And the rest of the men, which were not killed by these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, nor idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.” – Revelation 9:20.

What does this mean?

Some people will consciously reject God and consciously choose their own idols, images, idolatry, and even demons, as the above verse indicates.

God’s message in both the Old and New Testaments is clear: one must not pray to God through images, figurines, crosses, medallions, or rosaries.

For such behavior, some Israelites were killed. They made a god in the form of a statue. Someone might say, „Why, God, did you punish them? They made a statue and prayed to You? After all, they were not praying to that statue, but to You, God.”

God does not allow this. God may not be depicted in any image. Thousands of Israelites were killed for breaking this prohibition.

Was the God of the Old Testament cruel?

No. Such a law existed in both the Old and New Testaments. If you didn’t know this, reader, then they hid this truth from you.

For such apostasy, Christ will punish people at God’s Judgment…

Let’s see this story described in Exodus 32:1–35.

Israel makes a statue of God YHWH

„And when the people saw that Moses was delaying to come down from the mount, they gathered about Aaron, and said unto him, Arise, make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man which brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of him.” Exodus 32:1

Aaron collected gold earrings and made a cast of a calf (a young bull, a young ox, an idol in the shape of a bull), symbolizing strength and abundance worshiped in pagan religions.

„And he took it from their hands, and fashioned it with a graver, and made it a molten calf. And Aaron saw it, and built an altar before it, and said, Tomorrow shall be a feast to YHWH. And they rose early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” – Exodus 32:4-6

Aaron built an altar and announced a feast, attempting to connect idolatry with YHWH.

What did God say to this?

„Then YHWH said to Moses, ’Go down, for your people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt have become corrupt. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them, and have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, saying, ’O Israel, this is your god, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'” – Exodus 32:7-8

God did not approve of this ceremony, even though the Israelites were very confident, saying that this statue was the god who had led them out of Egypt. This was a lie… the statue was not the god YHWH. It was a mere calf cast from metal.

Breaking the Tablets and Dealing with Idolatry

Moses, after talking with God, returned to the people, saw the calf-image, smashed the tablets of the covenant, and then destroyed the idol:

„And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it. And Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people do unto thee, that thou hast brought such great sin upon them?” – Exodus 32:20-21.

What happened next?

„Moses stood in the gate of the camp and called out, 'Whoever is for YHWH? Come to me!’ And all the sons of Levi joined him. And he said to them, 'Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel: Every man of you, put a sword on his side. Go up and down from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, his friend, and his kinsman.’ And the sons of Levi did as Moses commanded, and they killed about three thousand men that day.” – Exodus 32:26-28

Moses, in accordance with the principle of free will, allowed the Israelites to choose whether to side with God or with demonic worship—idolatry. At the call, „Whoever is on YHWH’s side, come to me!” the sons of Levi arrived and, at Moses’ command, punished the idolaters. Approximately three thousand people perished that day.

Prayer for forgiveness

„The next day Moses said to the people, 'You have committed a great sin; but now I will go up to YHWH, perhaps I will be forgiven your sin.’ So Moses went to YHWH and said, ’Behold, this people has committed a great sin, for they have made themselves a god of gold. But forgive them this sin; if not, then blot me out of Your book which You have written.’YHWH said to Moses, ’Only the one who has sinned against Me, I will blot out of My book. Go now, lead this people where I have commanded you, and My angel will go before you. And on the day of My punishment, I will punish them for their sin.'” – Exodus 32:33.

What punishment did the Israelites receive for repenting and standing on God’s side?

“And indeed YHWH punished/struck/touched the people with a plague because they had made the golden calf, which Aaron had made under his direction” – Exodus 32:35.

Summary

Religions and traditions hide the true meaning of this story from people. They conceal a very important fact.

See it for yourself, Reader:

“No fornicator, impure person, or covetous person—that is, an idolater—has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God”—Ephesians 5:5.

Check out this article: https://objawieniejana.pl/life-in-the-kingdom-of-god/

The punishment the Israelites received was not invented by the God of the Old Testament. The prohibition against praying to the Father and the Son through images, medallions, crosses, or statues is idolatry. Idolatry is the worship of images. The prohibition against idolatry appears in both the Old and New Testaments.

This is a grave offense against God. Those who consciously worship images face death. Those who do so unconsciously must reform and change this unbiblical behavior.

Religions and traditions would have us believe that idolatry is praying to images of animals.

This is only part of the truth…

„And the Lord your God spoke to you from the midst of the fire…Be careful, since you saw no form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the likeness of male or female…” – Deuteronomy 4:12-16.

„Thus, professing to be wise, they became fools. They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images like corruptible man, birds, four-footed beasts, and creeping things.” – Romans 1:22-23 (ESV).

Reader, consider these verses. If you truly consider faith important, the most important thing in your life, then I will add the following verses:

https://jesu.pl/is-it-allowed-to-pray-to-god-through-images-crosses-and-figurines/